


The Man Behind The Machine

by bag_of_catZY (catZY)



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:38:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9213542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catZY/pseuds/bag_of_catZY
Summary: "I’m sure if there is anything to find, I’ll find it. I found you, didn’t I?”“I’d say Iron Man’s the one who really found me, but you’re the man behind the machine, right?”The way that was phrased, it almost sounded like James knew—no, that was impossible. If the rest of his teammates, who had all known both Iron Man and Tony for ages, couldn’t figure it out, how could James have figured it out so quickly? Tony was just being paranoid.--In which Tony's managed to keep the fact that he's Iron Man a secret from his teammates and the rest of the world for years. With that kind of track record, fooling Bucky should be easy. But Bucky isn't the Winter Soldier for nothing.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prompt_fills](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prompt_fills/gifts).



> Prompt: No one knows Tony is Iron Man. Bucky figures it out awful quick but instead of confronting Tony, he enjoys yanking his chain. (Could be flirting and conveniently covering for Tony one minute, asking uncomfortable questions the next.)

Tony had a number of tracking systems set up on his computer. So, when his Winter Soldier tracking program pinged a notification, Tony immediately suited up and shot a message to Cap to let him know his old WWII buddy had been sighted.

“Iron Man, wait for the team to suit up. Do not go haring off alone!”

Tony grinned. He loved putting that half-frustrated, half-resigned tone in Cap’s voice. He answered, “No can do, Cap, he’s slipped through our fingers too many times. I can get to Romania way faster than any of you can, even in the Quinjet.”

Cap sighed. “Alright, Iron Man, take point on this mission. Try to just scout if possible. Let us know if you engage.”

“Sure thing, Cap.”

The both of them knew that Tony was not going to _just_ _scout_ , but they still observed this tired old back-and-forth ritual where Cap told Iron Man not to do something, Iron Man agreed, and then Iron Man did whatever the fuck he wanted to do.

Once Tony had crossed into Romania, he started following Winter Soldier’s trail much more closely. Tony plotted Winter Soldier’s trajectory, which when paired when satellite maps showed that Winter Soldier was headed towards a half-hidden bunker in the middle of the woods. Since Winter Soldier had been on a one-man mission to hunt Hydra since running into Cap and kicking the brainwashing, Tony assumed that the bunker was a Hydra base.

As soon as Tony crested the last hill and had the bunker in his sights, an armor-piercing bullet whistled right past his faceplate. Tony jerked back on instinct before focusing on where his HUD said the bullet had originated from. He saw a small, leather-clad and masked figure carrying a truly massive gun. From Winter Soldier’s reputation, Tony knew that the bullet had missed him on purpose.

Not one to be deterred by trigger-happy leather-fetishists, Tony gave the other man a jaunty wave and glided towards him. Winter Soldier waited for him calmly on the ground.

Tony set down on the ground with a muffled thump and waited to see if Winter Soldier was going to attack him before walking closer. “Hey, Frosty, what’s up?”

Winter Soldier remained impassive. Not that that was hard, considering his mouth was covered by a mask and his eyes were covered by goggles.

“Not a wordy one, are we? So, what’s the plan now? A staring contest? That’s going last forever since neither of us can see the other’s eyes. But hey, I’m down to try anything at least twice, the second time just to make sure.”

“Are you alone?”

“Snowball, if you want to make this a private party, you just gotta say. I can take you anywhere you want to go, show you a good time while we’re at it. Not to brag—actually totally to brag—but I’ve gotten stellar reviews, just ask anyone.”

“Is it just you, or are the Avengers coming, too?”

“Yeah, but they’re still at least half an hour out. So, that means we’ve got half an hour to ourselves; we could get up to a lot in that amount of time. What do you want to do first?”

Winter Soldier turned away and started marching towards the bunker. Tony clomped after him.

“Rude. I thought we had a thing going.”

Winter Soldier said, “Fighting first. Then…”

“Then what?”

Winter Soldier glanced at him. “Then, we’ll see.”

Tony did a mental fist pump. _Then, we’ll see_. Wasn’t much, but considering Tony hadn’t been expecting anything, it was a whole hell of a lot.

 

 

 

 

Against everyone’s expectations, Winter Soldier continued to allow Iron Man, and just Iron Man, to join in on his anti-Hydra crusade. He never talked to any of the others and left as soon as he got a whiff of Cap. As Tony got to know Winter Soldier, he prized the oddball, half-flirtatious banter between them, but he also felt increasingly guilty that he got to hang with Cap’s bestie while Cap couldn’t even get within speaking distance.

While Tony contemplated how to mend the two old war heroes’ relationship, he continued to fly out on his own to join Winter Soldier’s missions. On one such mission, he decided to bring it up.

“Hey, Red Peril, so what’s up with you and Cap?” Okay, so no one had ever accused Tony of being subtle.

Winter Soldier glanced at him briefly before going back to his constant vigilance thing.

Undeterred, Tony continued, “Like, I think you’re really breaking Cap’s heart. He’s crying tears of red, white, and blue everywhere. It’s totally bringing down the mood for everyone in the Mansion.”

Winter Soldier didn’t even twitch this time.

“Come on,” Tony wheedled, “what could be the harm in meeting up with the poor fellow just once, huh? Hug it out, talk about the good old days?”

Winter Soldier finally replied, “If you don’t talk about him for the next three times we meet, I’ll think about it.”

Tony’s heart warmed at the evidence that Winter Soldier expected to see him at least three more times in the future.

Tony jokingly said, “Well, if I can’t talk about He Who Must Not Be Named, what am I going to talk about?”

“Having nothing to talk about is not a problem you have. Ever.”

“Sass.” Tony said fondly. “You love me for my eloquence.”

Tony couldn’t possibly know this, but he thought for sure Winter Soldier was smiling underneath his mask.

Any possibility of further teasing was cut off by hordes of Hydra grunts descending on them. Tony admired the brutal grace of Winter Soldier’s finely controlled violence. Tony wondered if it was wrong to find Winter Soldier fighting hot.

Probably. But when had that ever stopped him?

 

 

 

 

Winter Soldier coming in from the cold was a surprisingly anticlimactic event. After yet another smash and grab at a Hydra base—it was weird how mundane this was becoming—Winter Soldier stuck around while Tony waited for the rest of the team to arrive.

“You’re not leaving?” Tony asked, surprised.

Winter Soldier shrugged. “That was the last base I knew about. I figure if there are any more Hydra scum left, it’d be easier to find them if I was living in a place with a powerful supercomputer.”

“Huh.” Tony was pretty impressed with that logic. Almost anyone else would have cited the Avengers team or the money as the number one reason to live at Avengers Mansion.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“Mind what?” Tony asked, confused.

“I kinda just invited myself to live at your place. You were always talking about seeing Steve. You never actually invited me to live in your home.”

“Oh, I don’t—I mean, Stark won’t mind.”

“Right. Stark.” Tony could have sworn he heard a smirk in Winter Soldier’s voice.

What the hell did that mean?

Tony ignored that and asked, “So, now that you’re off mission, what should I call you?”

Winter Soldier seemed to puzzle over that for a few moments, before he said, “Call me Barnes. Or James.”

“Okay, sure thing, Jamie.”

James huffed, but it seemed more in amusement than ire.

After a tick or two of companionable silence, James suddenly jerked his head upwards. He must have heard the near inaudible whine of the Quinjet repulsors. Tony was impressed. The only reason Tony knew the Quinjet was close was because the Quinjet was linked to his suit’s HUD.

The Quinjet touched down and Cap was the first to rush out. At the sight of James standing still not a hundred feet away, Cap momentarily froze in shock before recovering himself and walking hesitantly closer. Cap never hesitated about anything except when it was personal. It was clearly Steve Rogers standing there with his soulful eyes rather than Captain America.

Steve pushed back his cowl. He smiled tentatively. “Hey, Bucky.”

James didn’t respond. Steve’s smile wobbled. Tony unsubtly elbowed James in the side.

James said gruffly, “Punk.”

Steve’s eyes lit up at that one simple word. “You remember!”

James’ mouth twitched upwards into the ghost of a smile. “You were always getting me in trouble. ‘Course I remember.”

Steve’s beaming smile was almost painful to look at for its brightness. Steve took another step forward. “Can I—?”

James must have been able to understand Steve’s aborted question because he gestured impatiently. Steve surged forward and wrapped his long lost and now found friend into a rib-creaking bear hug.

“I missed you. Jerk.” Steve whispered wetly.

Tony looked away from the intimate moment and saw the rest of the Avengers hanging back by the Quinjet entrance. Jan was wiping away tears, Carol was smiling, Thor looked like he wanted to join in on the hug, and even Hulk looked less angry.

Tony looked back at the two best friends still hugging each other half to death and smiled to himself. Mission accomplished.

 

 

 

 

“So, if Iron Man’s your bodyguard, how come I’ve never seen him with you?”

Tony looked up, startled, at James’ question. His eyes were caught by James’ icy blue ones. Without the goggles, James’ gaze was so much more piercing.

Tony cleared his throat and bent back over James’ metal arm. “I don’t need guarding when I’m in the Mansion. I mean, I built all the tech in that suit of armor, you think I couldn’t build defenses into every inch of this place?”

“Makes sense. Still, you’d think he wouldn’t leave the person he’s supposed to be guarding alone with the Winter Soldier.”

“Oh, well, he trusts you. He knows you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“He’s got a lot of faith in me, maybe more than I can live up to. You trust him that much?”

“Of course.” Tony was quick to answer. “Oh, and speaking of, he told me you wanted to live here so I could help you find any remaining Hydra bases.”

“He seems to tell you a lot.”

“Yeah, I guess. We’ve got a pretty good employer-employee relationship.”

“That’s good,” James said noncommittally. “Did you find anything?”

“Not yet. But I’m sure if there is anything to find, I’ll find it. I found you, didn’t I?”

“I’d say Iron Man’s the one who really found me, but you’re the man behind the machine, right?”

The way that was phrased, it almost sounded like James knew—no, that was impossible. If the rest of his teammates, who had all known both Iron Man and Tony for ages, couldn’t figure it out, how could James have figured it out so quickly? Tony was just being paranoid.

“Sure. You could think of it that way”, Tony responded after a pause that was perhaps a bit too long. He hastily redirected the conversation. “How does the arm feel now? Any glitches? Any pain?”

James twisted his metal arm every which way and wiggled his metal fingers.

After he was satisfied, James looked up at Tony and smiled. “It feels great. Thank you.”

“No problem”, Tony murmured absently, caught up in the beautiful curve of James’ smile.

 

 

 

 

Tony clomped into the rec room where everyone was conveniently gathered. Before he could tell the Avengers about their new mission, Jarvis appeared as if by magic, eyes immediately drawn to Iron Man’s boots against the precious Brazilian cherry wood floors.

“Sir,” Jarvis said reproachfully, “you will damage the floors if you walk in here with the suit on.”

Tony gestured at Hulk, who was sitting on an entire reinforced loveseat by himself. “He’s at least as heavy as me and way more destructive, how come you never nag him about the floors?”

Jarvis said repressively, “If Master Hulk suddenly decided to wear metal on his feet, I would tell him to steer clear of the wooden floors, too.”

Hulk grinned smugly at Tony.

Tony tried again. “Well, Thor’s got a metal hammer. How come you—?”

“Iron Man,” Steve interjected with amusement, “you should know better than to argue with Jarvis by now. He’s always right.”

Jarvis was too good to be smug to Tony’s face, but Tony knew his butler was probably beaming on the inside.

Tony huffed. “Fine, whatever. I’m not staying in here for long anyway. I came in here to tell you lot to get suited up.”

Steve immediately straightened into mission mode. “What’s the mission?”

“Stark thinks he’s found a Hydra base hidden in an abandoned military site outside of Siena.”

Cap stood up and declared, “Avengers assemble!”

Tony rolled his eyes behind his mask. “Cap, we’re already assembled.”

Cap looked sheepish. “Oh, right. Um, Avengers, meet in the hangar in five.”

The Avengers scattered to get suited up. James stayed behind. Tony cocked his head in question.

James smiled and said, “Thank you. For looking for Hydra just because I asked you to.”

Tony was a little dazzled by that smile and the sincerity in James’ voice. “Oh, um, I’ll be sure to convey your gratitude to Stark. I mean, he’s the one who did all the work.”

James’ smile turned amused. “Sure, I figured telling you was the same thing as telling him. After all, he knows everything you do, right?”

“Well, not everything. A man’s got to have some secrets.”

James’ eyes twinkled. “Of course, Mr. Man of Mystery.”

Tony had the uncomfortable feeling that James could see right through the mask. To hide his discomfort, he shooed James towards the door. “Come on, we better not keep the team waiting.”

Several hours later, Tony stood with his arms akimbo, surveying the utter destruction around him. Hulk and Thor had really gone to town, tearing up huge swathes of the surrounding Tuscan countryside in addition to their actual target. Hulk had bounded off to a nearby vineyard and was merrily ripping up vines to eat the grapes.

The rest of the Avengers followed. Wasp flew towards Hulk, probably to charm him back to the Quinjet. Tony stooped to pick up a shredded vine sans all grapes and then dropped it back to the ground with a sigh. He recognized this vineyard. It produced some pretty expensive wines. He was going to owe the owners a big check.

James clapped Tony on the back and said, “Hey, don’t look so sad, you’re richer than God, right? This should be pennies to you.”

Which was true, but—“You’re thinking of Stark. I just work for the man.”

Captain Marvel asked, puzzled, “What made you think Iron Man was rich?”

James shrugged. “Stark doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would just trust anybody with the Iron Man suit. That kind of trust, you’ve got to be best friends or closer. What’s a little money after that?”

Captain America asked jokingly, “Is that a hint that I should give you my bank account information, Buck?”

James smirked. “What makes you think I don’t already know?”

Tony watched the two best friends snipe at each other, feeling strangely like James had just helped Tony dodge a bullet—one that James had fired himself.

 

 

 

 

Tony checked himself in the mirror one last time before rushing out of his room. He was already an hour late to the gala. Any later and Pepper was going to kill him. He was so focused on getting to the garage that he ran into a brick wall. Well, not a brick wall, but the chest in front of him was firm enough that there was little difference.

Two extremely well-muscled arms reached out to steady him. Tony noticed the metal hand. James. He’d crashed into James. And ogled James’ muscles. Gah.

Tony pulled back so that they were at a respectable distance from each other. That was when he realized James was dressed in a tux with his hair combed back. If Tony thought he was beautiful before, that was nothing on this. It was barely an exaggeration to say James was hotter than a thousand burning suns. And then Tony kicked himself for the corny thought.

“Are you going out?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, with you.”

“With me?” Tony asked, taken aback. “Did I ask you to be my plus one and then forget about it?”

James looked at him like he was stupid. “I’m going as your bodyguard.”

“What?” Tony spluttered. “Why? That’s what Iron Man is for.”

“You say he’s your bodyguard, but he’s never around.”

“He’s around! You just can’t see him. Good bodyguards shouldn’t be seen. Besides, he’s always there when I need him.”

“I’m a master at stealth. I won’t be seen if I don’t want to be.”

Tony sighed. He could see that James wasn’t going to be dissuaded. And honestly, if James wanted to come and make Tony’s night even a little less boring, he was welcome to. “Fine. But you’re going as my plus one. I can’t have you skulking around at the gala. People will think I’ve hired you to kill or spy on someone.”

James smiled, pleased by Tony’s acquiescence. James held out his arm for Tony to take. Tony was more charmed than he was willing to admit. He took James’ arm and together, they headed to the garage to pick out a car.

While Tony was driving, James looked strangely pensive.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

James glanced at Tony. “Just a penny?”

“Fine, whatever you want. What were you thinking about that got you so serious?”

“Whatever I want?” James smiled mischievously. “That’s a dangerous thing to offer, Mr. Stark.” He turned serious. “I was just thinking about the last time I went to a party. Nothing as fancy as this, of course. War was ugly, but dancing the night away with a pretty dame made you forget for a little while.”

Tony heard the wistfulness in James’ voice. “Well, there’ll be plenty of pretty people there tonight to dance with.”

James shrugged. “It’s been a long time. I probably don’t even remember how. Besides,”—here, he raised his metal hand—“this’ll scare most people off.”

“It doesn’t scare me.” And he wasn’t just talking about the metal arm. His words encompassed all of James, including the Winter Soldier bits. Tony knew what it was like to have an ugly and bloody past, and he wasn’t scared.

James met Tony’s eyes and said “You’re not most people.”

James’ words washed over Tony like gentle sunlight. He was caught in James’ gaze for probably longer than was safe while driving. But crashing was the farthest thing from Tony’s mind.

When they arrived at the ballroom where the gala was being held, Tony immediately started to walk towards the dance floor and James followed. Tony knew Pepper would have wanted him to mingle and make nice for better future business relations, but Tony had something more important to do.

At the edge of the dance floor, Tony turned towards James and held out his hand. “Can I have this dance?”

James looked surprised, but happy, to be asked. “Yes.”

Tony led James onto the dance floor and whirled him into a waltz. James followed Tony so seamlessly it was like they’d been dancing together all their lives.

“I can’t believe you told me you probably forgot how to dance. You’re amazing.” And maybe that last sentiment was a little too honest, but Tony didn’t care. He felt like he was floating on a cloud.

James smiled. “It’s because you’re great at leading. Who knows if I can dance without you?”

Tony matched James’ smile. “I guess that means we’ll just have to keep on dancing together. Wouldn’t want to give someone else the chance to ask you to dance.”

“Are you telling me my dance card is full, Mr. Stark?”

“Call me Tony, please. And yes.”

“Tony.” James’ eyes sparkled like sunlight spilling over dancing waters.

The rest of the night passed in a haze of dancing. Tony smiled the entire time, so much so that his cheeks were sore afterwards. When Tony went to bed, blue eyes followed him into his dreams.

 

 

 

 

Tony had built the suit to save his life, but the thing he loved most about being Iron Man was being able to fly. Sure, he’d known how to pilot planes since his university days, but there was something special about flying as Iron Man.

Tony did a breathtaking corkscrew through the night sky before straightening out and hovering in the air. He glanced below and his HUD automatically zoomed in on the figure standing on the Mansion’s roof below. James. Tony zipped down to touch down gently on the roof.

“Impressed?”

“Yeah. What’s it like?”

“What, flying?” At James’ nod, Tony continued, “More than words can describe.” A reckless idea popped into his head. “Hey, want to know for yourself?”

James frowned. “How?”

“I can still fly when I’m holding someone.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

James stepped closer so that he was standing on the suit’s boots and his arms were thrown over Tony’s shoulders. Tony wrapped his arms around James’ waist and with a warning to hold on tight, shot into the air.

Tony pulled some dizzying maneuvers, all the while conscious to be gentle with his passenger. James whooped in delight along with Tony. It was the first time Tony had ever heard James laugh. Tony was enamored.

After a while, Tony stopped flying like a rollercoaster and settled into a smooth glide. He rolled onto his back so that James could just relax and lie against the suit.

“So, what’s it like, flying?” Tony asked.

James smiled with his cheeks flushed and his eyes glittering brighter than the stars, “More than words can describe.”

They floated around in contented silence.

“Hey.” James suddenly picked his head up so that he could look directly at the suit’s mask.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for showing me this.” And then James leaned down to press a kiss against the mask, right at the seam where faceplate met helmet.

Tony could barely breathe. James’ lips were separated from Tony’s by less than an inch of metal.

James pulled back. “Was that okay?”

“More than. You can’t tell, but I’m blushing right now.”

“Good.” James smiled, and then laid his head back down.

For the first time ever, Tony wished he didn’t have a secret identity so that he could have felt James’ kiss against his lips.

 

 

 

 

Another successful mission against Hydra ended up with Tony’s boots too damaged for flight. He ended up having to take the Quinjet back like everyone else. Well, everyone except Thor. Carol and Jan could fly, too, but Jan preferred to have people around to talk to and Carol was their pilot.

Tony clomped over to sit beside James. He lifted one boot to rest against the opposite knee. He examined the damage with a sigh. This had been the last working suit. At this rate, he was breaking his suits faster than he could fix them.

At Tony’s sigh, James teased, “Aw, poor baby, want me to kiss it better?”

Tony turned to James, surprised that James would joke about kissing him in front of the others. Before Tony could say anything, James dropped a quick kiss against the mask, at the seam again. Everyone stopped talking.

James looked away from Tony at the silence and focused on Steve. “Punk, close your mouth before flies go in. It’s like you’ve never seen me kiss someone before.”

Steve said indignantly, “I’ve never seen you kiss a man before! I’m allowed to be a little surprised.”

“What makes you think Iron Man is a man?”

Even Tony was surprised by that.

Jan said, “Uh, isn’t it obvious? The clue’s in the name. Iron _Man_.”

“What better disguise for a woman than a suit that makes people think she’s a man? What, you think Stark would have built breasts into the suit if Iron Man were a woman? That’d be so impractical.”

Tony really hoped James didn’t actually think he was a woman, especially since he had no idea where James had gotten that idea. Despite the total lack of evidence, both Steve and Jan turned speculative eyes on Tony. Hulk just looked bored.

When Tony turned to look at James, he saw the mischievous gleam in James’ eyes and nearly breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. If Tony ever revealed himself to James and James freaked out, at least James wouldn’t also be having a sexuality crisis.

Tony couldn’t believe he was considering revealing himself to James. Love made you do crazy things.

 

 

 

 

Tony paused in the middle of his explanation of his latest awesome idea about upgrades for James’ metal arm to see James watching him with his head propped up against his hand and a small smile on his lips.

James’ smile made Tony automatically smile back. “What? Is there something on my face?”

“No, I just like watching you talk about your work. When you’re in your element…just wow.”

Tony could feel himself blush at the awe in James’ voice. He ducked his head in an attempt to hide his blush. At the feeling of metal fingers cupping his cheek, Tony glanced up, startled. James was suddenly a lot closer than he had been before, so close that Tony felt like he was drowning in those blue, blue eyes.

Tony watched James lean closer, caught by that gentle hand and pinned by that warm gaze. He couldn’t have moved away to save his life. In the bare moment before James’ lips touched Tony’s, Tony’s eyes slipped closed in sweet anticipation.

The moment of contact was electric and it only got better from there. James nipped and sucked and licked until Tony’s lips were on fire. Tony could only imagine what that sinful mouth could do to the rest of his body. James kissed Tony like he never wanted Tony to taste anything else again. Tony had kissed a lot of people, but he’d never been kissed like this before.

Tony broke away only when the need to breathe became too urgent to ignore. And as oxygen rushed back to Tony’s brain, he realized something glaring. James didn’t know Tony and Iron Man were one and the same. James had kissed Iron Man several times and now he was kissing Tony sans suit. Tony felt heartbroken and disappointed. His secret identity had finally bitten him in the ass.

Something of Tony’s thought must have shown on his face because James frowned and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“You kissed me!”

James’ frown deepened. “I thought you wanted me to.”

“I do! But that’s not the point!” Before James could ask, Tony half-shouted, “The point is that you just kissed me when you’ve been kissing Iron Man.”

James froze in surprise before rolling his eyes. Tony almost stormed away in anger at the irreverent action, but then James said, “Are you being serious right now? I thought—I can’t believe you actually seriously believe I don’t know.”

Tony paled. “Know what?”

“Know that you’re Iron Man!” James gestured emphatically at the display cases full of suits.

“How?” Tony breathed, barely able to speak past his shock.

James sighed. “I hate to break it to you, but you are not subtle. I figured it out pretty much after the second mission we ran together, before I came here.”

“That long?” Tony asked faintly. “Then, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I pretty much did. Not explicitly, but…I treated you the same whether you were in the suit or out of it. You were the one who was always correcting me.”

“Why didn’t you call me out on any of it?”

James shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t see the need. I always figured you knew. Like, the both of us pretending I didn’t know was our little inside joke.”

“Okay, but I still don’t understand how you figured it out.”

“You don’t change the way you speak when you’re in the suit. Iron Man shows a genius level understanding of tech. You’d never trust anyone other than yourself with the suit. You and Iron Man are never seen together. And Jarvis addresses you as Sir whether you’re Iron Man or just Tony, despite the fact that he addresses everyone else by their names or codenames. And—”

“Okay, okay, you can stop now. I get it.” Tony sighed. “I feel so stupid.”

“Well, you’ve managed to fool everyone else. I’m the Winter Soldier—I’m the best at what I do.”

“You haven’t told anyone, not even Steve?”

James shook his head. “Steve’s my best friend, but we’re not actually joined at the hip. It’s your secret to tell.”

“Okay. Good. Thanks.” Tony was finally starting to come down from his shock at finding out James had known his secret all along.

“So,” James asked with a small smile, “is it okay if I kiss you again?”

“Yes.”

And as James swept him away in another breathtaking kiss, Tony thought to himself that it wasn’t so bad that James already knew. Actually, it was great because now Tony didn’t have to worry whether to do a reveal or not, or how to do it. And they could finally touch skin to skin.

 

 

 

 

Cap had called the entire team to train together. During one of their run-throughs, Hulk accidentally tossed a boulder in James’ direction and knocked James off his perch. The fall wasn’t high enough to kill James, or even seriously injure him, but Tony’s heart still leapt to his throat. He dove for James and managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

James looked up into the faceplate and grinned. “My brown-eyed knight in shining armor.”

Tony glared at James through the mask even though he knew James couldn’t see it.

Over the comms, Jan asked, “How do you know that Iron Man has brown eyes?”

Carol added, “Wait, does this mean you’ve seen under the mask?”

Tony said “No”, while James said “Yes”. Tony glared harder. James kept grinning.

Tony set James gently down on the ground. Steve, Carol, and Jan were waiting for them when they landed. In the background, Hulk and Thor were occupied with trying to wrestle each other into submission. Clearly, the training session was over.

James said to Carol, “What, you think I’d be content with just kissing metal all the time?”

Jan pouted. “That’s not fair. You get to know who’s under the mask even though we’ve all known Iron Man for way longer.”

Tony said tartly, “Well, if you can do the kind of the things James can do to me, I’d let you know, too.”

Steve’s nose scrunched in disgust while Jan and Carol laughed. “I did not need to know that about my best friend.”

Carol asked Tony teasingly, “Does that mean we need to sleep with you to know your secret identity?”

James wrapped a possessive arm around Tony’s waist. “He’s already taken.”

Jan said, “Oh, so you admit that Iron Man is a man?”

James shrugged.

“Oh, come on, give us a hint. Pretty please?” Jan wheedled.

James shook his head. Jan kept asking and James kept shaking his head with a secretive little smile on his lips. All the while, James kept his arm around Tony’s waist. Sure, Tony couldn’t feel it through suit, but he liked what it meant.

Tony smiled behind the mask, utterly content in this moment with James by his side and his teammates around him.

 

 

 

 

 

Tony’s teammates found out about his secret identity in the stupidest way ever. The villain of the week had a ray gun that atomized non-organic material. Tony got caught in the crossfire—thankfully, while he was on the ground—and ended up standing in the middle of a Manhattan street in nothing but his red silk underwear.

Several surprised shouts of “Stark?!” and “Tony?!” rang through the air. But Tony ignored everyone to focus on James, who was doubled over laughing. Asshole. But at least he was Tony’s asshole, and Tony wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
